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Greek Chicken Salad
This Greek chicken salad is not a traditional Greek salad and I’m not pretending otherwise. It’s a recipe-inspired riff, built around the classic flavours of Greece but with iceberg lettuce, seasoned chicken breast, and whatever needed using up in the fridge. After a week of heavy Brisbane rain and a bowl of very hearty pasta e fagioli the night before, a bright, fresh salad was exactly what the weekend called for.
Greek Chicken Salad Bowl
Fresh, vibrant, and packed with flavour, this Greek Chicken Salad Bowl is one of my favourite warm-weather meals. Tender oregano-seasoned chicken is paired with crunchy vegetables, salty feta, Kalamata olives, and a simple dressing for a lunch or dinner that feels both light and satisfying. It’s inspired by the flavours of a classic Greek salad, with a few personal touches thrown in along the way. Quick to prepare and full of colour, it’s the sort of meal that tastes like sunshine in a bowl.
Ingredients
- 250g chicken, diced small
- 1/2 tsp garlic salt
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
- 1 continental cucumber, diced
- 200g cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 100g roasted red pepper strips, diced
- 50g Kalamata olives, halved
- 50g feta, crumbled
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Toss the diced chicken through the garlic salt and dried oregano until evenly coated.
- Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until golden, about 6-8 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the red onion to the pan and cook for an additional 1-2 minutes, or until softened.
- In a large salad bowl, toss together the cucumber, cherry tomatoes, roasted red peppers, olives, feta, and extra virgin olive oil.
- Add the warm chicken and onion to the salad and toss to combine. Serve immediately.
Notes
- This is a brilliant weeknight salad that comes together in under 30 minutes. The warm chicken wilts the salad slightly and the pan juices add extra flavour.
- I use this non-stick frying pan for cooking the chicken. It gives an even golden colour without sticking.
- Dicing the chicken quite small means it cooks faster and you get more golden, caramelised surface area in every bite.
- Garlic salt and dried oregano are the classic Greek flavour combination. Simple but brilliant.
- Roasted red peppers from a jar are a great shortcut here. Drain them well before dicing so they don't make the salad watery.
- Kalamata olives have a deep, briny flavour that's essential to this salad. If you're not a fan of olives, you can leave them out, but they really do add a lot.
- Use a good quality extra virgin olive oil for dressing the salad. It's the only dressing this salad needs.
- For extra freshness, squeeze a little lemon juice over the finished salad just before serving.
- This salad is best eaten fresh while the chicken is still warm. Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 2 days, though the salad will soften slightly as it sits.
- Not suitable for freezing due to the fresh salad ingredients.
What I Cook With
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
2Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 562Total Fat: 39gSaturated Fat: 11gUnsaturated Fat: 28gCholesterol: 137mgSodium: 892mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 4gSugar: 9gProtein: 36g
Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.
Serve this with
- Serve with my Crispy Lemon Thyme Roasted Potatoes for a more substantial meal. The citrusy potatoes echo the fresh Greek flavours, while their crisp edges are lovely with the juicy chicken.
- Add warm gluten-free flatbreads and hummus on the side for an easy lunch spread. The creamy hummus works beautifully with the chicken, feta, olives and fresh vegetables.
- Pair with my Hummus and Roasted Mediterranean Veg Bruschetta with Feta for a relaxed Mediterranean-style lunch. Both dishes share those fresh, salty, herby flavours without feeling repetitive.
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After the Rain, a Salad
After a week of relentless Brisbane rain, the weekend arrived sunny and genuinely warm, and a salad felt like the only appropriate response. I love a Greek salad deeply, but I had some chicken breast that needed using up and so in it went. I’m aware that lettuce is not a traditional component of a Greek salad, and I hold no illusions about authenticity here. This is a recipe inspired by those flavours rather than a faithful recreation of them, and it is all the better for the chicken and the iceberg and the complete lack of rules.
Brisbane winter is settling in in its own particular way. The days are still sunny and sitting around 22 degrees, which is genuinely lovely, but the nights are dropping to around 14 and that means cosy hoodies have made their return. Now, after two years in Adelaide and seven years in Scotland, 14 degrees at night is genuinely nothing. But it’s still cold enough for a hoodie, and I have the best hoodie in existence right now. It’s fluffy and black and has cat eyes on it, and I am obsessed with it in a way that is completely proportionate and normal.
Lulu loves the hoodie. My mum’s cats, however, absolutely hate it, which means it stays at home when I visit. And Squinty, one of my local magpies, is deeply suspicious of it. She’ll still eat from my hand, but she eyes the cat eyes on the hoodie with considerable caution, and I’ve learned to hide them when I go out to feed her. She’s a bold little woman in every other respect.
The Magpies of the Balcony
Squinty first came to visit a few months ago, taking shelter on my balcony during a heavy rain, and I gave her some food. That was apparently all the invitation needed, because now her whole family comes to visit regularly and makes very sure to let me know when they’re around. There’s Squinty herself, Hoppy, and their babies, and they have collectively decided that this balcony belongs to them as much as it belongs to me, which honestly feels fair.
If you want to see Squinty, Hoppy and the babies, Lulu in his cat-eye hoodie era, and the cooking adventures in between, come and find me on Instagram at @bryjaimea. There is more content there than I probably intend there to be, but the magpies in particular have become something of a recurring feature and I have no plans to stop documenting them.
This salad, for the record, was a very welcome change of pace after the pasta e fagioli I made the night before, which was rich and hearty and absolutely worth the bean-related consequences. Sometimes you need the heavy, warming bowl of comfort, and sometimes you need the bright, crunchy, lemon-dressed salad the next morning. This weekend offered both, which felt like the right kind of balance.
Why This Works as a Weeknight Salad Bowl
The beauty of a salad bowl like this is that it genuinely asks very little of you. Dice the chicken, toss it through garlic salt and oregano, and cook it until golden. Right at the end, throw the red onion into the pan for a minute or two to soften slightly and pick up all those lovely flavours from the chicken. Everything else is simply chopped, tossed together, and dressed with good extra virgin olive oil. The cucumber brings crunch, the tomatoes freshness, the roasted red peppers a gentle sweetness, the olives their unmistakable briny depth, and the feta a creamy, salty finish.
The oregano is doing a lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to flavour. It instantly gives the chicken that familiar Greek-inspired character and works beautifully with the feta and Kalamata olives. Cooking the red onion briefly rather than serving it completely raw takes the edge off without losing its bite, which makes it sit more comfortably alongside the warm chicken. The roasted red peppers add a softness and sweetness that balances the sharper flavours in the bowl, creating something that feels fresh but still substantial enough to satisfy.
Feta is worth paying attention to here. A good quality block feta packed in brine will always give you a better result than the pre-crumbled versions. Crumble it yourself just before serving so you get generous chunks throughout the bowl rather than tiny dry crumbs. It takes barely any extra effort and makes a noticeable difference to both the flavour and texture.
Ingredient Breakdown
Chicken
Diced quite small so it cooks quickly and develops plenty of golden colour. Smaller pieces also mean you get a little chicken in every forkful, which keeps the bowl balanced rather than ending up with one giant piece of chicken and a mouthful of vegetables.
Garlic Salt and Dried Oregano
A simple seasoning combination that gives the chicken plenty of flavour without needing a marinade. The oregano provides that classic Greek-inspired profile, while the garlic salt seasons the chicken all the way through.
Olive Oil
The olive oil used to cook the chicken and the extra virgin olive oil used to dress the salad are doing two different jobs. One helps develop colour and flavour on the chicken, while the other lightly coats the vegetables and brings everything together.
Red Onion
Added to the pan during the final minute or two of cooking, just long enough to soften slightly and absorb some of the flavour from the chicken and seasonings. It keeps its character while losing some of its raw harshness.
Continental Cucumber
Diced and added fresh for crunch and freshness. Continental cucumbers tend to have fewer seeds and a thinner skin, making them ideal for salads where texture matters.
Cherry Tomatoes
Quartered so they distribute evenly through the bowl. As they mingle with the olive oil and warm chicken, they release some of their juices and help create a light dressing of their own.
Roasted Red Pepper Strips
Drained and diced before being added to the salad. They contribute sweetness, colour, and a softer texture that balances the crunchier vegetables.
Kalamata Olives
Halved rather than diced so you get little bursts of their rich, briny flavour throughout the bowl. Kalamata olives have a depth and saltiness that really helps define the overall flavour profile.
Feta
Crumbled over the salad before serving. As the warm chicken settles into the bowl, some of the feta softens slightly, creating creamy pockets throughout the salad.
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
The only dressing this bowl really needs. A good quality extra virgin olive oil coats the vegetables, mingles with the juices from the tomatoes and warm chicken, and ties everything together beautifully.
